The Value of Business Concepts By Elizabeth

Fraud seems to be running rampant in the state of Florida and there seems to be a lack of law enforcement to handle crimes on behalf of the victims. It saddens me the current situation of a 91-year-old man living in Broward County who worked his whole life to purchase his first house in 1963 In Fort Lauderdale.  Today the deed on record shows someone else’s  name because he has fallen prey to a fraudulent Quit Claim deed transfer. Day after day Mr. Felder’s sits there and worries if he will have a roof over his head or be placed out on the streets while he puts his trust In the Fort Lauderdale Police Department and their Economic Crimes Division.  

The man who spent the last 60 years in that very house and worked to pay off all the loans so he could spend his later years relaxing now has to spend his ending years fighting a battle he never expected.  This man lives a modest life so that he can spend his final years in this house.

Mr. Felder’s Story

Mr. Felder in 2019 after the death of his wife went and put his affairs for his death in order. He hired an attorney to prepare and file a warranty deed to leave the property to his son and his daughter-in-law in the event of his death.   Unfortunately, about a year later his son passed away and Mr. Felder left the Warranty Deed in effect. Although, this deed allowed Mr. Felder the power to take back the deed at any time without their approval.  Then in June 2022 when Mr. Felder went to pay his homeowners insurance, he was informed that he no longer owned the property. It seems Mr. Felder’s daughter-in-law after the death of his son created a Quit Claim deed putting the property in her name and the grandson This deed was dated June 21st, 2021.

Mr. Felder is a humble man that grew up in the time where instead of getting educated worked the fields picking cotton and is illiterate and unable to understand how this could happen when he had never signed anything but the first deed with the attorney. Mr. Felder had allowed his daughter and son to move in the property in 2019. The daughter continued to reside in the property upon the death of her husband the son.  The daughter-in-law never informed him of the transfer of any deed until the insurance company informed him of the transfer. With limited income he had no idea where to turn for help, Mr. Felder finally reached out to his niece, Juliette Johnson who reached out to a friend Elizabeth Smith who is Business Consultant with Business Concepts by Elizabeth and is very knowledgeable in various areas and able to use her background to help businesses and people in need.

Miss Smith set up the first meeting at his bank where she went through the account got copies of his checks. She checked and questioned Mr. Felder to verify he was of sound mind and had no cognitive issues.

She then went ahead and met with them two weeks later and explained everything she found out on this case. She showed us how his signature did not match the one on the Quit Claim Deed. She used the prior deed and signature on checks at the same timeframe in case he was ill, or anything could have proved that his signature changed to rule that out.  It was discovered that the signatures were not the same on the set of deeds and The Quit Claim deed showed it was prepared by his granddaughter and the notary acknowledgement failed authenticity of a notary. There was no driver’s license was even shown and Mr. Felder has no knowledge of signing this or in a room with at least 3 others present. The notary and the 2 witnesses.  Also, these 3 individuals that signed the deed were located all over Broward County. Which does not make it illegal but hard to think the witnesses were not located in the direct vicinity.

There were so many red flags showing that day September 23, 2022, We decided to go ahead and file a police report with Fort Lauderdale Police Department. After the police report was filed, the case was transferred to a detective with Economic Crimes at Fort Lauderdale Police Department.

The daughter-in-law started pressuring Mr. Felder in September that he had to move out and find a nursing home she was going to sell the house that it was her now.  Who would do such a thing when you had lived there free of rent and bills and now fraudulently  owned his house. Ms. Smith kept reinforcing to him that could not happen that easily there were laws that would need to follow.

As we collected more information Ms. Smith was able to track down that the daughter-in-law put the house under contract with a cash buyer for $200,000. She was able to contact the Title company and inform that they do not have a clean title on the property and their so-called sellers were under investigation.

This past week I arranged for us to meet with Legal Aid that was able to draft an affidavit that states that Mr. Felder did not sign that Quit Claim Deed. This unfortunately does not remedy the situation but puts a roadblock on anyone wanting to purchase this property with a clean title. With legal Aid lack of funding and staffing they unable to take this case any farther at this time but were outstanding to deal with and commend Jeff at that office for his time and diligence.

Here is an elderly man that should be enjoying his later years and life he worked for but is stuck now fighting for his rights to his home he paid for.

We have so many questions…

Why has the notary not been in for a statement.

Why has the States Attorney has not received the file

There are many other major discrepancies that have been discovered.

Sadly, Mr. Felder house is tied up in this fraud that prevents him to even use it if he needed for a loan for medical reasons or nursing. It seems we are in a standstill as we fight every day to get some movement and help to get this case In a States Attorneys hands and attorney willing to help. We are hoping that sharing our story helps from happening to the next person or elderly person with limited years left.

We want to make sure homeowners are aware of the new program that's the Broward County appraiser put into effect, Mr. Marty Kiar . Owner Alert is a free service designed to help you protect your property from scams or fraud by notifying you if a document is received by BCPA changing the ownership of your property and awhile. A lot of counties and states offer this program for a fee but Broward County is giving it free of service. Please go to the following website https://web.bcpa.net/owneralert assure your future ownership against fraud and help crackdown on some of the fraudulent acts being done in Broward County. Take a moment and help an elderly person, friend or relative like Mr. Felder that has limited abilities with technology protect themselves so they not targeted for future loss of their homes without their knowledge.